Antony has sent 90 shady deals to CBI for investigation

 True to his ''Saint Antony'' image, defence minister A K Antony has sent as many as 90 cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation for probing since 2010 including 10 cases alone in January, 2013.

The ten cases which were asked by the CBI to investigate by the defence ministry in January exclude much-talked about Agusta Westland VVIP helicopter deal where kickbacks were reportedly paid to middlemen for securing the contract for Agusta, a UK-based subsidiary of Italian arms major Finmeccanica. CBI was brought into Agusta scam only in February.

Out of these 90 cases, 42 cases are pending investigation, 41 cases are under trial and five cases have been closed by CBI, Antony informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The minister, however, did not furnish details of the cases, which CBI was asked to probe.

As many as 22 cases each were sent to CBI in 2010 and 2011 for probing. But the number went up to 36 in 2012, includes Tatra truck deal and some of dubious land deals involving armed forces and Defence Estate Organisation.

What is surprising, however, is the number of cases sent to CBI. Going by the statistics the minister shared with the Parliamentarians, in every third day one case was sent to CBI from defence ministry for investigation.